Catching Up

Hi Everyone! I figured I'd come and catch up a bit. As most of you know we will be stationed in Hawaii at the end of the year. We are so very excited about this! What an adventure. And, as all of you know, everyone is welcome to visit. We don't really have any detail besides we know that is where we'll end up. As soon as we get more details we'll let you all know. We don't have exact dates or anything and won't for a few months.

As far as the job hunt goes, well...not so much luck and that's OK. I've decided to stick with Pampered Chef for now which is actually going really well now that I've put some solid effort into it. It will be so nice to be able to enjoy the summer with Carson. We've already been able to get out to both the Minnesota Zoo and Como Zoo recently (Como twice) and to the park and just generally getting out and enjoying things. It's such a change from working 40 hours a week and having to try an cram in quality time.

I have my Turbo Kick certification on 5/16. I have already taken and passed two YMCA certification classes and the Red Cross CPR so I'm well on my way. It's very exciting. I'm thinking teaching exercise will be the greatest job in Hawaii. Seeing as how I won't have to work full time and it will be a great way to keep in shape while still being able to get out once in a while.

Carson is getting so big. It's amazing how his vocabulary is just growing and growing. He's getting excellent at stalling and manipulating but what 2 year old isn't an expert at those things? And on Monday he had his first complete embarrassing meltdown/temper tantrum at the mall. Complete with him laying face down on the floor and crying. It was a first and I'm sure not a last! At this point he's still easily distracted from the temper tantrum. If you ask him to help you with something generally he will get excited about that and switch focus from whatever he was crying about to helping you with something. It can be as simple as "Hey Carson, can you help me find X at the store?" and he'll perk right up and say "Yeah, Sure!" it's pretty cute.

My favorite "Carson-isms" right now:

If you ask him to do something he will say "Yeah, Sure!"

If he asks a question and you give him an answer he'll go "Oh, Right."

If he asks to do something and you say, "No, we're not going to do that right now" he'll go "Awwwwww" in the most cliche whiney voice and inflection possible. It's perfect and I have no idea where he picked it up.

He says "Hello" and talks to EVERYONE in stores, walking by on the sidewalk, at restaurants, everywhere. And usually he won't stop talking to them until they respond. It's funny

I'll leave you guys with a few recent pictures and videos and I'll be back soon!

Riding his bike in the driveway, I can't believe how much better he is this year compared to last year!

Not sure you need any caption for this one :)

Playing Soccer in the yard, makes me appreciate how much it's greened up since this picture!

From our last trip to Como, he was crabby and this was literally the only picture he would even look at me for. Ugh, I was hoping to get a picture of us in this spot. The cat building has the BEST lighting ever! I love it! Ah well, I'm sure there will be more zoo trips this summer!